Another Door Opens
by Happy Endings for All
Summary: "When one door closes, another door opens." Though she's never even used a literal door before, Princess Rapunzel knows opportunity when she sees it, and so does Eugene Fitzherbert. This is the story of their new dream, set during and after the movie.
1. Prologue

Author's Note: Thanks for checking this story out! I'll try to keep this short and simple. This is just the prologue of the story – don't worry, future chapters will be longer and more in depth, and won't be comprised of mostly author's notes. I love_ Tangled_, and I'm going to endeavor to fill in what I feel are plot holes during the final scene of the movie, in order to properly tell what I believe happens afterward. Obviously, I don't own the movie or its characters, or those plot holes wouldn't exist! This is going to be an epic story which I have already outlined, so don't worry, though it may take a while, it WILL get finished! There will be love, loss, adventure, intrigue, and more! So sit back and enjoy!

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**Prologue  
Another Door Opens**

_This is the story of how I came back to life._

_My name is Eugene Fitzherbert. I used to go by Flynn Rider (because really, who'd want to be saddled with a moniker like that?), until someone told me that she liked Eugene better, and that made me realize that I do, too. I have to use it now anyway, whether I like it or not, thanks to the fact that I used to be a thief, and if you cover up the nose on all of the "Wanted: Flynn Rider" posters of my face that were plastered up around Corona, you'd recognize me, report me, and try collect the reward, so Eugene it is. By the way, just so you know, the issue has already been addressed, and no use beating a dead horse, or rubbing it in the face of the king of Corona that there's an ex-thief dating his daughter, the princess. (Trust me, no one else likes it either, based on the dirty looks I've gotten from those who know who I am – or who I used to be. But for whatever reason, she seems to like me, so I'm staying put.) After all, His Majesty might end up changing his mind about pardoning me, and we wouldn't want that. But I'm getting ahead of myself here._

_How, exactly, did said ex-thief end up with said princess? Well, for starters, he's a catch, if I do say so myself – and I do. But that's a story for another day, and a story that's already been told. In truth, I really couldn't tell you. The best way to sum it up is probably just destiny. I didn't use to believe in Fate, but I'm starting to. Y'see, there's this old quote, "When one door closes, another one opens.'' I'm normally not into all of that philosophical stuff, being a man of the world and all. Being an ex-thief, I know about doors: how to pick their locks, how to climb walls to get around 'em, if need be. And if we're being literal, I know opportunity well. In fact, some people might call me, instead of a thief, an opportunist, a euphemism which plenty of people are happy to saddle me with. A scavenger, really; I just took what was lying around. True, I was a better and more earnest scavenger than average, seeing how I would have to break into places to get what was laying around, and when you think of scavengers, they're usually scavenging for unwanted leftovers while I went for more of the very-much-wanted expensive jewel-encrusted type stuff. Anyway. That chapter of my life is over now._

_Now, I'm living with the princess - albeit as far away as physically possible, on the other side of the castle; but hey, I'm in the castle I've always dreamed of, so I can't complain - who just found out she was a princess, if you can imagine. That's a lot of fun. But there's more to the story than that. No one ever said that life was just about having fun, and if it was, this story would be a lot shorter than it actually is - a word of warning there for ya. So sit down and get comfy; you're in for a wild ride. (And I'm not just referring to Maximus when I say that.) There's a part of my life that's over now, part that I'm never going to get back. I'm done being Flynn Rider. Flynn Rider died. Now I'm just plain ole Eugene Fitzherbert. But you know, that's the way I like it. Because when one thing ends, another begins._

_You already know the story of how I died. This is the story of how I came back to life, and how – with my help, of course - the girl who made it happen got a new life of her own._

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Not much to go off of, but let me know what you think! The next chapter will be up shortly - more to love, I hope! I'd also like to give a quick shout-out to the other writers of the fandom who have inspired me and perpetuated the art of _Tangled_ fanfiction. Thanks for reading!


	2. The Door of the Tower

**Chapter One**  
**The Door of the Tower**

"You know, I've always had a thing for brunettes."

These were the first words out of Eugene Fitzherbert's mouth after he was resuscitated by a tear. Not _Gee, thanks for saving my life _or _Hey, I'm alive _or even _The light was so pretty, why'd ya bring me back?_ Just that. But it was so characteristic of the man she had grown to know and love (at least as far as she could tell, if two days' time was enough to even say that) that Rapunzel wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry.

Instead, she kissed him.

After staring at him in utter joy and disbelief for a half of a second, her face breaking into a radiant smile, she nearly tackled him in her embrace before neatly shifting, her hands fisted possessively into the collar of his beloved blue vest, the material worn and yielding in her hands as she drew him closer as her closed lips met his.

Though he tensed at first in surprise, Eugene, for his part, relaxed in an instant, his newly reopened eyes fluttered closed from their widened state, his hand cupping around the choppy tendrils of brown hair at the base of her skull as he gently coaxed her mouth open. Her lips were like velvet on his, soft and compliant, and he broke the kiss gently, pulling back to look at her for a moment in wonder before she impulsively threw her arms around him once more.

He exhaled in contentment and relief, breath warming the tender flesh where her shoulder met her neck, exposed for the first time now that her vast expanse of hair was gone. Never before had he thought to be grateful just for the ability to breathe at all.

Perhaps his words had been pronounced in a lighthearted tone, but both of them were well aware of the gravity of what had just occurred. He had died. He had felt the blackness creeping in on the edge of his consciousness, and had been aware of his life slipping away from him. His pain had been one of startling intensity, and then it had been gone, when it was too late to even notice it.

He couldn't remember now what it had felt like, to be dead; and he found that nor could he recall any loner what it had been like to feel alive before this. Had there been life before that kiss, or before Rapunzel at all? If there had been, it was just an unsatisfactory imitation of the real thing.

Before he could remember that Flynn Rider never got choked up, he found a tear run down the length of the nose that no artist could capture. It was a good thing he was no longer Flynn Rider. As he nestled closer to the girl who had saved him and held her more tightly to him, he whispered, for he was too overwhelmed to speak, "I love you."

Carefully extracting herself from his grip so that she was settled loosely in his arms, Rapunzel answered, her own eyes gleaming, "I love you too, Eugene Fitzherbert. I have since the moment I met you."

She did not realize, until afterward, that the familiar phrase _I love you more_ had not leapt to her lips; and she was grateful for it, for she suspected that if it had, she would have bit it back anyway.

Unsure what to say to that, other than that he felt the same way – and he wasn't about to do that, seeing as how he'd felt quite enough emotion for one day, or possibly for the rest of his life – Eugene just smiled at her and lightly played with the ends of her hair with his fingertips. He hadn't been lying; he really did like it this way. He was a pretty good hairdresser, for having just had a piece of broken glass as his mirror.

"There's something else I have to tell you," Rapunzel said, shifting a little as if in discomfort. She bit her lip a little and then, without any other preface, mumbled, "I'm… I'm kind of the lost princess."

She winced and looked at him, anticipating his shock, but she was the one surprised when he just sat there, a blank expression on his face. Perhaps he was still in shock from the blood loss, or from what she had just told him, and he was trying not to freak out while he was probably internally combusting.

"…Eugene?" she asked, concern edging into her voice.

"I didn't know being a princess was just a 'kind of' thing," he said breezily, entirely unfazed.

The princess looked at him, seeming rather exasperated. Perhaps a little bit of freaking out would be nice. After all, she'd just found out the story behind the past eighteen years of her life, she'd had an entire epiphany, and a little empathy would be nice.

"Relax, Blondie. I already figured it out, all right?"

The self-satisfied smirk on his face made her realize it was true, even though before she might not have believed him. After all this, she wasn't as trusting as she had once been. But she trusted Eugene Fitzherbert. Flynn Rider, not so much, but she found it easier to trust a hero than a thief. It was nice, too, to have her suspicious validated by someone else other than her memories and Mother Gothel. The thought of that made her shudder a little and she forced herself out of her thoughts.

"I'm glad I don't have to explain it to you then," she said with a small smile. "I didn't want you to freak out. Magical hair that glows and heals and keeps young is one thing...being a lost princess is another."

"Lucky thing, that, or else the surprise might have killed me – again," he joked, lamely.

"Oh," she said simply, unable to laugh. She looked at him intently."H-how…?"

Putting up his free hand to spare her the stammering, he began, "Well, I remembered when I was an orphan and the palace guards used to come by the orphanage every once in a while to see if the lost princess was there. The whole kingdom knew everything about you – your age, your birthday, your name… And it just all added up."

"My name?" Rapunzel repeated softly.

"Well, yeah. It isn't like you exactly have a common one." Alright, so he was a bit of a hypocrite on that one. He moved on quickly before she could point it out. "Your parents named you Rapunzel, after the flower that healed your mom. Everyone knew the name of the princess, because there was all this excitement when you were born, so either Gothel used it too, or had the same idea about the origin of your… magical-ness," he explained awkwardly. He shook his head. "I can't believe I didn't connect it all sooner! It's so obvious!"

Rapunzel was crestfallen, her eyes misty as she glanced away. "My parents gave me this name," she whispered, almost reverently.

Realizing that was the only thing of her parents that she had, Eugene gave her a little sympathetic smile. "Of course they did. They named you as soon as you were born. And they loved you even before then." He cupped her jaw lightly to direct her face back towards his, the pad of his thumb tenderly stroking her cheek as her eyes fluttered back to meet his. "Why else would they put on a festival just for you every year, and have a whole library of books about you, and have murals painted of you?"

Considering this silently, Rapunzel's expression was thoughtful as she leaned into Eugene's touch.

"And I'm so glad they did," he continued, "or else I would have experienced a short drop and a sudden stop, and you would be in some godforsaken…" He trailed off, clearing his throat. No need to go down that trail of tears.

"You would have… what?" she asked, finally coming out of her mute state.

"Been hanged. From the gallows," Eugene replied, matter-of-factly. "Most wanted thief in the kingdom, remember?"

Rapunzel lowered her eyes. This was all too much. He had almost died once today, and then he really had died, and she'd brought him back to life – she could barely even comprehend how. Nor could she comprehend what would have happened, anything other than what actually happened. She didn't want to.

"How did you escape, then?" she asked curiously.

"A little help from a certain noble steed and a gang of lovable ruffians," he grinned.

"Maximus!" she cried happily, smiling widely.

"The one and only. We can go and see him, as soon as…" He grimaced and arched his back, straining against the manacle that held him, and twisting until he had maneuvered so that his wrist, though still encircled by iron, was no longer chained to anything.

Rapunzel looked at him in wonder. "How did you _do _that?"

He just flashed his best Flynn Rider grin. "Most wanted thief in the kingdom, remember?" He gave Pascal a nod of gratitude as the little lizard trotted up proudly wielding a key and unlocked the cuff. Rubbing his wrist for a moment, Eugene continued, "I'm Flynn Rider. I've gotten out of situations stickier than this." And by "this", he meant being chained here, not death – that had definitely been a first. Though he'd cut it pretty close with the gallows thing.

"No," Rapunzel said, smiling at him, "you're Eugene Fitzherbert."

He returned the smile. He had said Eugene Fitzherbert wasn't a good name for a thief. But he was no longer a thief. Rapunzel had said she had liked it better than his fake name. And perhaps it was a good name for the rescuer of the lost princess.

"Well, come on, then. Max is probably eager to see you. He did gallop all the way to the Snuggly Duckling to find you after the Stabbingtons knocked me out and sent me to jail…" He winced. "I guess I should probably explain all of that. How did you get out of their dirty paws, anyway?"

"You first," she demanded; she had a right to know why she had been betrayed, though she knew now that she had not been.

"All right, all right, your _Highness_," he relented, putting up his hands in mock defense. "It's not like I can say no to you now." Of course he never could have said no to her, but that was obvious enough. "I should warn you, it's a long story."

"It's a long ride to get to the castle," she pointed out.

"Touché." Yes, they would have to go the castle, and she couldn't stay here forever; she wouldn't want to. He was just kind of surprised that she had been the one to propose the idea, after everything she'd been to – but then, after everything she'd been through, it made more sense than ever.

"I want to meet my parents," Rapunzel said, less forcefully than she had spoken before.

Eugene understood this. He had never had a family, and she understood why she would want to meet hers – her real family. Perhaps he was a bit hurt that he wasn't good enough for her, but he was a thief, and she was a princess; he would never be good enough for her. And at least there was her implication that, if he was to tell her the story, that he would be going with her. If he had the opportunity to meet his parents, he knew he would take it.

"Then what are we waiting for?" he asked, forcing the cheer back into his voice and handing her a frying pan as he glanced out the window towards Maximus. "Your hero awaits!"

Rapunzel looked at him for a moment before taking the frying pan, her expression softening as she touched his cheek lovingly. "He's right here."

He smiled at her before clambering down the hole that Gothel had planned on using for her escape, and Rapunzel watched him nervously. She turned around to take one last look around the place that had been her home for eighteen years, at all of the murals she had painted, at the mannequin she had used to make dresses, and thought of all the memories she had made.

Then she closed her eyes and imagined all of the new memories she would make: meeting her parents, spending her life with Eugene...having children of her own. Her resolve strengthened, she held Pascal in one hand and the frying pan in the other. She sat on the edge of the passage and swung her legs experimentally before scooting herself forward to drop down and feeling Eugene's strong arms catch her safely.

He held her hand as they walked over the pile of stones that had once served to bar the entrance to the tower, where a door never was. He put his arm around her shoulder while she cried tears of horror and relief over the cloak of Gothel, the only remains of her captor and her guardian. He was her guardian now. He helped her onto Maximus, who whickered in greeting, and held her to him as the horse lurched into a bouncing trot. She didn't look back as she sung softly, "Now's when my life begins..."

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AN: Things will get more exciting soon, I promise; I just needed to fill in a couple plot holes, and there will be more of that in the next chapter with explaining the reality behind her "betrayal" after the floating lanterns scene, what happened in the jail.

I personally believe that Eugene knew that she was the lost princess before the Tower scene, or else why would she have believed that she was in trouble when the Stabbington brothers said that she was "with the old lady"? If Gothel was really Rapunzel's mother, he wouldn't have been worried. A shoutout to miss Sunshine. Flower (take out the spaces, it wouldn't let me type it otherwise - weird!), who believed Eugene subconsciously realized Rapunzel's true identity during the library scene.

Also, when wondering how Eugene would get out of his chains, **Kairan1979 **reminded me that he had knowledge of such things, as a thief, which goes well with my prologue, and also makes me smile thinking of that thing Flynn did in the jail where he leapt and got his hands out from being cuffed behind his back. /mental picture of Flynn

And a question: do you prefer long chapters that you can really sink your teeth into, or short and sweet that you can get through quickly without getting bored? Just curious.**  
**

Thanks for reading! I write for enjoyment, not reviews, but all the same, thanks to **LunarBasket **and **AIOFanNCRM** for their encouragement!


	3. The Door of the Castle

**Chapter Two  
The Door of the Castle**

After Rapunzel had - somewhat - made her peace (it would be a while, if ever, before she could completely come to terms with it) with the death of the woman who had pretended to be her mother, she and Eugene left the tower, and some time was spent in companionable silence, which came as a surprise to both of the normally loquacious companions. Finally, Eugene decided to make good on his promise to tell her what had happened – after, of course, Blondie had recovered enough from her traumatic experience to prove herself back to her usual self by questioning him incessantly about it.

It was difficult for him to talk about it, because it was a recent event, which meant that the pain was especially fresh. So he sighed before beginning, in a more long-winded and less theatrical version of what a normal rip-roaring Flynn Rider tale would have been. "When I left you, I fully intended to go back to you. You...you were my new dream," he began, fumbling for words for a moment. "My life as a thief was over, and I knew it. I had seen the Stabbington brothers on the shore, and I knew I needed to cut ties with them, or have them haunt me the rest of my life. I put down the crown and told them we were parting ways. They said I had something better and I was still holding out on them. That's all I remember, and when I woke up, I was tied to a boat with a crown in my hand and soldiers looking at me. They took your tiara and threw me in a cell. I paced all night, thinking of how to get out, wondering what you thought and kicking myself for thinking I abandoned you." His face twisted in disappointment as he thought of it. "I couldn't stand it, but I didn't know what I could do. When I was finally let out, it was to go to my death." Not at the gallows like he had thought, but that did not need to be reiterated, for she already knew _that _part of the story. "That's when I saw the Stabbingtons. I demanded where you were, and they told me that you were 'with the old lady'. Something in my head just came together all of a sudden, and everything made sense: that old lady was not your mother, because you were the lost princess. You were the same age, had the same eyes, the same name, and the same birthday, and your mother kept you locked up… It just made sense." He shrugged, a nonchalant _oh yes, I'm a genius, but I'm not going to boast about it_ sort of look.

Rolling her eyes good-naturedly, Rapunzel waved her hand in a little go-on gesture, and obediently, he continued.

"Anyway, it was too late for me to help you, or so I thought. That's when I saw a ceramic unicorn, the very sort that Vladimir collects, and before I knew what was happening, our good friends from the Snuggly Duckling, those lovable thugs, had shown up to help me out! Maximus had somehow communicated to them what had happened – I suppose he knew he saw me get roughed up and tossed into prison – in time for them to get me out. Poor fools are probably locked up now themselves, with the number of guards coming after us…you wouldn't believe it unless you'd been there – there were probably hundreds, maybe thousands!" He was probably exaggerating there, but she wouldn't know the difference. "Anyway, they catapulted me into the air, I landed on Maximus' back, and we made hard for the tower. And the rest in history."

He leaned back with a sigh after this impressive tale, to which Rapunzel responded with a thoughtful silence. At length, she managed to murmur, "You didn't betray me." He hadn't left her – at least not intentionally. Well, except for the whole dying thing, but that situation had been patched up well enough.

From his seat behind her on Maximus, Eugene wrapped his arms around her waist tighter and rested his head lightly on her shoulder, the ends of her hair tickling his cheek. "I promise you, I wouldn't leave you."

In spite of this heartfelt vow, Rapunzel merely looked back at him, apparently unconvinced. He looked at her seriously.

"And when I give my promise, I never break that promise. Ever."

Her face softened, smiling at him in appreciation of her own words being returned to her in such a way. "I don't know if I trust Flynn Rider. But I definitely trust Eugene Fitzherbert."

"Thank you," he said sincerely, choosing not to be offended. After all, who was Flynn Rider? Or perhaps it was better to say what was it? It had been what he was for the past years, but it was still just a facade, a persona he had assumed based on a storybook hero, but that hero was much nobler than he.

Rapunzel was silent for another moment (which Eugene was beginning to find more common than he had previously thought, given her former excitability, but he supposed that happened when one lived virtually alone for eighteen years) before asking very quietly, almost as if to herself: "What if they don't recognize me, or think I'm ugly or stupid or chubby?"

Eugene scowled. "They're not going to think that. Relax, would you, Blondie?" He wasn't scolding her out of anger over her endless and annoying self-deprecation, just frustrated that it existed at all, obviously thanks to Mother Gothel. Why else would an obviously gorgeous, clever, and slender girl think so poorly of herself? He did not know how else to express it, and things were not made any better by the fact that he was tired. Traveling two days in a row and getting killed could do that to a guy, even Flynn Rider.

That was unfair of him, Rapunzel thought. She had spent her whole life thinking that another woman was her parent, just to find out today that she had another set, whom she had never known and, even worse, who were the king and queen of all of Corona! Of course she had a right to be a little worried! Sounding chastised and irritated, she cried, "You don't understand what it's like for your whole life to be a lie!"

Eugene looked away, hurt, his eyes flashing to the passing blur of trees that made up the forest. His face darkened at the sight of a familiar wanted poster which was plastered to one of them. Since Maximus was close enough, he leaned closer to it and ripped it from the tree to which it had been nailed and crumpled it up with more fervor than was required as he replied quietly, "I think I'm starting to."

He didn't know who he was anymore. His time as Flynn Rider was over, he knew that much. But what did it mean to be Eugene Fitzherbert? No one had called him that, other than Blondie here, in… many years. He was going to have to start a new life, just as she was.

Closing her eyes in something akin to painful guilt at this realization, Rapunzel murmured, "I'm sorry, Eugene. I know this must be stressful for you, too."

"Nah. I've been in the castle before," was the casual response. She didn't have to know that he hadn't exactly been in there to seek an audience with the king and queen, though he was going to have to do that sooner or later to face the music now. And she didn't have to know, in the midst of her own panic, that he was even more scared than she was. He was supposed to be the one comforting her here, not the other way around. But that day would come. Because Flynn Rider was brave and dashing, but Eugene Fitzherbert, who was going to have to pay for the crimes (including, but not limited to, stealing the princess' crown from literally right under the guards' nose) of his alter ego, was terrified.

She nodded mutely, before allowing her head to fall back slightly and rest against Eugene's chest. Finding him to be an adequate pillow, she leaned against him heavily, and it seemed like she dozed off for a minute or two. Eugene, though still unfamiliar with the tender contact, had no qualms about it, and had even initiated it on some occasions, or at least would in the future. It had been a tiring day for her, so he left her in peace to rest. They were going to be at the capital soon enough, and she would need her strength.

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The grey stone of the city walls was a welcoming sight to both of them, because even though Eugene knew it would bring him a good deal of pain, it would bring Rapunzel a great deal of joy, and for that reason, he, too, knew that he would be happy. He considered the best way to rouse her from her light slumber, and though a shaking would have been adequate, he decided instead upon a gentle press of his lips to her cheek.

She woke in an instant, perfect lips curling into a smile as her eyes fluttered open to look at him lovingly.

"Morning, sunshine," he greeted her cheerfully, amused by her endearing sleepy face. "We have arrived."

If his kiss had not done the job of waking her, this statement surely would have, for she sat up straighter and looked around her. The city had been exciting enough the first time, but knowing now that she was princess of it all, everything was different, and she observed her surroundings with a sense of responsibility and solemnity mixed in with her glee.

That happiness faded slightly when Eugene slid off of Maximus' side and landed neatly on the ground, pressing the reins into her hands. "She's all yours, big guy," he said, patting the horse on the flank in dismissal.

Rapunzel gazed down at him with a panicked look. "What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Not getting caught and killed," he said out of the side of his mouth.

Frowning, Rapunzel shifted in her seat with the thought of dismounting, but not knowing how to get Maximus to stop. The clever horse halted and, with his usual strange intelligence, sat down on his haunches so she could slide off easily. She thanked him for his kindness before turning to Eugene.

"You promised me you wouldn't leave me," she reminded him in a forlorn whisper, her giant green eyes pleading. He groaned inwardly, knowing that he could not refuse her anything…but he had to, just for the moment.

"I'm not going to," he said with equal tenderness, whatever firmness he had planned upon using fading into half-heartedness. "I'm going to be right here with you, all right? Every step of the way. I'm right behind you. Just… you know… not in plain sight." His mouth twitched into a sideways smile, and she reluctantly returned it. She took Eugene's hand and he gave it an affirming squeeze of comfort, emboldening her. The magic of the moment was ruined when a guard strolled by. "I'll meet you up there," he said with more haste, and she nodded, looking back nervously as he dove with surprising grace, given the situation, into the closest well-manicured shrub.

Her resolve thus enforced, she swallowed and took a step forwards, clutching onto Maximus' reins as if to steady herself. When she hesitated at the sight of a rather grave looking guard, the faithful horse nudged her with his nose, and she tottered forth.

The guard eyed her. "What business do you have with Their Majesties?" he asked imperiously, looking down his nose at her. Well. He wasn't very welcoming, now was he?

Rapunzel stiffened. "I came to see them, because…because I am their daughter," she managed, sounding more sure of herself than Eugene would have expected. "My name is Rapunzel, I turned eighteen yesterday, and I-I am the lost princess."

Rather than hearing the surprise and joy in his voice that she might have hoped for, the guard glared at her contemptuously. "Another one, eh? So! You would make them suffer through this? There have been hundreds of girls claiming to be your age and have your name and birthday. How can I tell you apart from the rest of them? Their Majesties have been through enough without having to endure the lies of another impostor. Besides, you don't even have blond hair."

Crouching in the bush, Eugene cringed as he heard these harsh words. He had never heard a guard speak for so long – perhaps this was because he had never stuck around to find out what they had to say after they were robbed – and Rapunzel had never heard a guard speak at all. She had not known what to expect; she had certainly not been expecting this, but could she have really formed any expectations at all, when all of this was so painfully new to her? So she stared at him, first surprised and then outright indignant.

"I have been trapped in a tower for eighteen years," she said, her tone measured and slow, but not for long, "by a witch pretending to be my mother. She kidnapped me and raised me as her own, using the magical qualities of my hair, which were created from the powers of the flower that healed my mother from her illness, for her own purposes. All my life, I've been held captive by a woman who pretended to love me and denied me the opportunity to know true love, the love of my real parents." As she continued, her voice rose in volume, pitch, and speed. "I have spent my whole life denied of a life which was mine, dreaming of a life that I thought I'd never live, and I am _not _going to be stopped by… by some impertinent little guard!" she cried, impassioned.

Whatever had come over her, she planned to use it to her full advantage. "The only thing I had from my childhood was my hair, which turned brown when it was cut unexpectedly. I was kidnapped, and overworked, and kept in the dark about… about everything! But now, I've seen the light, and I know that the floating lanterns every year for my birthday are for me. I've been waiting my whole life for this day, and you're not going to ruin it for me," she declared, in a voice that was much more confident than she felt. She drew herself up to her full height, green eyes flashing, as she stared the guard down.

The man paused, and she felt something in her break. He was going to tell her to leave: it hadn't worked.

But then he was suddenly kneeling before her. "So have we all been waiting," he murmured. His head was bowed and Rapunzel could do nothing but blink in surprise as she stared down at him, mouth agape. "Forgive me, your Highness," he said, tone reverent. He lifted his head and looked at her, disbelieving. He did not smile, just stared at her in wonder. "You have your mother's eyes."

And he knew it to be true. Only a true princess could manage to look so inexplicably regal in those tattered clothes and with that ridiculous haircut; and surely, her story was too strange and elaborate to be fabricated.

Ebullient and almost dizzy, she was so giddy, she hardly remembered to glance back at the bushes, were Eugene's wide grin nearly betrayed his location by shining white behind the dark green of the leaves.

The great grand doors were opened for her, and she viewed for the first time in over seventeen years the palace where she had been born. The guard was silent, probably out of shock, as he led her through the castle. He took her to her room, admitting her entrance before bowing and taking his leave of her without a word.

Left alone in her room, she admired it for a moment; everything was just as she remembered, and memories came rushing back to flood her consciousness. Overwhelmed, she stepped outside onto the balcony and looked out over the city, standing in the place where the lanterns were set off. Sighing in relief and exhaustion, she looked down, and saw a familiar face doggedly trying to scale the wall.

"Eugene!" she cried ecstatically. "How did you find me?"

His grimace contorted briefly into a winsome grin. "Most wanted thief in the kingdom, remember?"

She shook her head at him, grinning.

"So, uh… for all my skill, I could use a little help here…"

"All right, master thief," she teased, reaching out to take his hand and help him up as he clambered up over the balcony wall. "Good thing there was no climbing involved in your heists."

Eugene grunted and rolled his shoulders to flex them out, shooting her a glare as he remembered a certain tower he'd had to ascend because there'd been no door. "You'd be surprised."

She just smiled and wrapped her arms around him, exhaling against the plane of his chest. "I'm not exactly dressed for the occasion," she murmured, parting from him to look down at her ragged gown self-consciously.

"Yeah, well, I'm in a bloodstained shirt, so hey, at least we'll have a good conversation starter," he pointed out.

As if there would not be enough to talk about already.

And yet, the actual moment of the meeting happened in silence. He took her hand and she clung to it steadfastly as they waited together in growing anxiety. She watched the man and woman she remembered from a distant infancy, their faces aged yet unchanged, slow from a run to a walk as they approached. They were just as wonderful as she remembered. Could they possibly think the same of her?

There was a moment of silent appraisal, and then Rapunzel stepped forth, spellbound, her hand slipping from Eugene's. Without another hesitation, she was in her mother's arms, and they were all crying in unison, a flood of inexpressible emotion. They sank to the ground still in their wordless embrace, Rapunzel relishing the feeling of just being held, and experiencing sincere parental physical affection in a way that had never been expressed by Gothel, and another warm body which could only be Eugene's joined the circle, and for that moment, everything was perfect.

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AU: Thanks everyone who has read, reviewed, and/or subscribed to this story - particularly **NexusTehULF0o** for all of her encouraging and hilarious messages! I hope this chapter was up to par - if not, tell me so with a bit of good old constructive criticism! Now that I am (mostly) satisfied with having filled in (most of) the plot holes, we can get onto the good stuff! Thanks for sticking with me and waiting it out - I just had to establish some groundwork first! Hope you enjoyed!


	4. The Door of the Jail

**Chapter Three  
The Door of the Jail**

As always, the perfect moment didn't last. And the ensuing moment of disbelief lasted only a moment before reality set in. It affected each of the members of the group hug differently.

There remained surprise on the part of Eugene Fitzherbert, who was certain that, despite the issue with the nose, his face would be recognized by the king and queen after being plastered across their kingdom for stealing their missing daughter's crown. There was some element of hope that they had been so distracted by their daughter's disappearance that they hadn't noticed petty crime, but he supposed that even if that was the case, the theft of their daughter's crown could hardly be considered a mere petty crime. No, indeed; the king himself would condemn him to death. So, with that thought, fear plagued him, for he knew that the moment of joy that came of having their daughter returned to them did not necessarily pardon the thief who had returned her.

There was also fear in the heart of the princess who had just realized that she was a princess. What if she was not everything that her parents had hoped for? Did they even believe that she was their long-lost daughter, or was this tender hug a preliminary thing that would preface a test to confirm her identity? What if they thought she smelled, or her dress was too short, and had they noticed her bare feet? Would they think she was ugly? Eugene had tried to assuage her fears, but they came back to her in an instant, and she did not know if they would ever leave her. There was, of course, joy that overwhelmed her fear. She had finally found her parents, her real parents. She had accomplished everything beyond her wildest dreams – not only had she seen the floating lights, but she had found love along the way, from Eugene and now from her parents. Oh yeah, and she was a princess. Who knew?

Happiness was obviously the most predominant emotion felt by the king and queen of Corona. The queen had felt in her heart that her daughter was somewhere out there, and had remained hopeful that someday, she would be found, even after over seventeen years without any evidence of it. The king had been less optimistic, and it had been a full-time job for his wife to keep him far enough out of despair to be capable of running a kingdom. Now that she supposed she no longer had to do this job, her time was free to spoil her daughter, and that she would do endlessly. But all of these thoughts, as they rushed through her consciousness, were disorganized, and mostly her thoughts sang out the name that had been the sound of every beat of her heart for the past eighteen years: _Rapunzel. _Since she had become a mother, even though the child she had carried for nine months and delivered had not been in her arms for as long as she would have liked, she had still felt some connection with her, and there was still an instinctive bond between them that time could not sever.

Though the maternal bond was not present in the king, and he felt something akin to apprehension, he was just as overjoyed as his wife. "You're back," he whispered, nearly unintelligibly, into the midst of happy people pressed together, almost as if saying it would somehow make it real. The wording of it sounded strange and foreign to him, as if she had merely been on a holiday instead of kidnapped, as if all this time they had known she would return. Well, one of them had. The queen opened her eyes, the same wide green pupils as their daughter's already tinged red from tears, and gave him a look of reproach: _I told you so_. But he was so happy he was wrong. The paper lantern ceremony which had transpired again only a few days ago had become, for him, a ritual of remembrance rather than hope, some kind of beautiful memorial for a daughter he had never gotten to know. Yet here she was, warm and real and bright, her countenance appearing to glow as she wiggled in his arms, her body slender and on the verge of womanhood and not at all like the tiny baby he had cradled once, yet here she was and he loved her. He had no idea about anything that pertained to her; all he knew was that she was his, and he loved her. And almost eighteen years of time vanished in an instant; his baby girl was in his arms again. Safe.

Though the release from the embrace was understandably reluctant, her half-hearted squirming managed to free Rapunzel from the multiple pairs of arms that had encircled her, and she mustered up a little smile as her parents just looked at her for another moment in silence. The queen felt that she would never get tired of looking at her beautiful daughter. Though she could not help but feel a hint of sadness that she had not watched her grow up, seeing the end result – or near the end result, anyway – was almost more than she had hoped.

Her father, too, stared at her in wonder. He had so many questions swirling around in his mind that he could not even speak. Where had she been all this time? Why hadn't she come sooner? What was she doing with Flynn Rider? Perhaps it was best that he did not articulate them, since it was more enjoyable to relish the joy of just having her there at all, whatever the circumstances were that had brought her here after being away in the first place. The questions could wait.

Rapunzel was not made to feel any more confident by her parents' silence, and just knelt there, uncertain, next to her parents as they stared at her in a way that she felt must be appraising. But their expressions were so soft and loving that she felt they could not really be thinking of her in a bad way; even so, the presence of Eugene's hand slipped into her own was still a comfort to her until her mother – her mother, the real one, who she promised herself she would not call mother, but more affectionately "mom" – spoke.

"You're so beautiful," her mom managed to say finally, her eyes shining with tears that reflected Rapunzel's own.

Of all the things that her mother could have said, this was the most unexpected, and yet the most prized. Rapunzel closed her eyes and exhaled, her shoulders sagging in relief a little. "Really?" she asked, very quietly, unsure what else to say.

She half expected to be laughed at, or scolded for mumbling, but the queen just tenderly cupped her jaw with a gentle hand. "Really." She felt her mother's hand slide along her neck to touch the choppy ends of her hair and she bit down a little on her bottom lip, but when her mother just smiled without saying anything, she relaxed. She was beginning to see that when her mother said that she was beautiful, she wasn't just talking about looks, and that it stemmed mainly from just being able to see her at all. Even if Rapunzel really was ugly, and Mother Gothel's demeaning remarks certainly made her think so, she knew that her true mother loved her too much to think so.

"We're so happy you're here," the king joined in, attracting Rapunzel's gaze towards him for the first time as he spoke, sounding a little tentative; yet the fact that his voice was choked up with emotion touched Rapunzel deeply. To have the man who ran a whole kingdom, which she had lived in her whole life without even knowing about, was something that she could not really fathom.

She looked between them, her father and her mother, and saw the worry lines that crinkled around the edges of the king's bright blue eyes, softening the worn and noble kind face, and the way the eyes of her mother, so lovely and with gentleness in each of her features, perfectly matched her own. Her hand clenching around Eugene's, she whispered, "I'm happy to be here, too."

Her mother moved her hand to her shoulder and squeezed it affirmingly. "Well. Shall we go inside? We have a lot to talk about."

Rapunzel's eyes darted to Eugene at the same time that her father's did, and she swallowed, suddenly realizing the significance of this. Her parents did not see him as she did; they did not know what she knew. And her mother was so generously giving her an opening to tell them all of that… everything that her life had been for the past eighteen years and, more importantly, the past two days.

"That sounds wonderful," Eugene answered for her, since she had not responded, his palm slightly clammy against hers. Sympathy for him and gratefulness for his bringing her here surged in Rapunzel's heart, and she looked to her father with slight worry, but the king merely nodded, his expression unreadable.

The king and queen rose also, with Eugene realizing belatedly that he should have waited until they were up to stand, as it was abominably rude to appear taller than them. Just another mistake to add to his repertoire. He winced inwardly, but there was nothing to do about it now, and he released Rapunzel's hand, in the hope of not getting himself into more trouble, although it earned him a confused glance from the princess herself.

The princess. Yep, he was in love with the princess. He hadn't really given himself time to let that sink in yet, since he'd known for all of a day and a half or so. And he didn't really have time to reflect on it at the moment, either, since keeping up with the king, who kept shooting him disapproving glances when his daughter wasn't looking, was going to be enough to keep him on his toes.

Still, he was somewhat relieved, and somewhat even more worried, by the fact that his interrogation appeared to be set for a later date. The queen had taken Rapunzel's hand, and Eugene stepped aside politely, and the king took the other. Panic returned. This was a clear enough sign of his exclusion, and he was sure that the palace guards would come to take him away momentarily. He would be brought down to the courtyard, maybe not even given the luxury of resting in a nice little jail cell before he was taken to the gallows. But the questioning look Rapunzel gave him as she twisted a little to glance back at him, and the fact that this stayed her parents, made him smile a little in spite of everything.

"Go ahead… Princess," he said, stumbling a little over the title. "I'll be fine." As far as he knew, this was a lie, and he should have known better by now than to think Blondie would believe him.

She stayed rooted to the spot, staring at him, until the queen spoke up kindly, "It would please us greatly if you were to join us, Mr. …Rider." Her glance slid to her husband, who was also gazing at Eugene, though with considerably less amiability.

"It's Fitzherbert, actually," he said, voice soft; and for at least that second it was obvious that he was no longer the foolhardy and confident king of thieves that he had once been. "But… please, call me Eugene."

"Then come along, Eugene," the king said, his voice a little gruffer than Eugene might have liked, but the words were enough. He gave a little nod of thanks.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Obediently, he followed along behind them, deciding not to get between them. They led him into Rapunzel's room, which looked like it had been frozen in time; Eugene supposed it had been unchanged since their baby had been kidnapped, but the worn path of footsteps in the lush carpeting was telling. He admired the luxury that was evident in the castle, not quite managing to suppress the covetous feelings that arose which had filled his breast since his days in an orphanage. If he could have a castle, he would want it to look just like this one. Since he still did not have the security of knowing he wasn't going to be hanged tomorrow, he let himself revel a little in his dreams while Rapunzel began the long and painful process of explaining her childhood to the parents who had not been there to observe it.

"The woman who kidnapped me raised me for eighteen years as if I was her own," she began, tentatively. "I really thought she was my mother. I don't know how I was so blind. I looked nothing like her." She allowed herself the joy of glancing at her _real_ mother and noticing the similarities between them. "I was kept in a tower in the middle of the forest less than a day's ride or two days' walk away from here for all that time, and I just lived as her servant, I guess, doing chores and reading and…"

She had been going to mention Pascal (who was, at the moment, outside with Maximus, as he was wise enough to know that Rapunzel's parents might be a bit overwhelmed by the shock of finding their daughter to meet him), but she trailed off. "And singing to her," she said instead, though this would come as just as much of a surprise. "I sang to her so that my hair would glow, and it kept her youthful and healthy," she said, wincing a little. "I forgot to mention that I'm magical…?"

Her voice trailed off in uncertainty. "The flower," her mother said knowingly, a little smile coming to her lips. "The flower we named you after… Rapunzel." The queen said the name as if it was holy, and to her, it truly was.

"Well, I _had _magical hair, until Eugene cut it off," she explained, in case they had been wondering why on earth she would wish to lose it. As the severity of her father's glance was not lost upon her, she scrambled to add, "He cut it off because he did not want Gothel to use me. After I found out I was a princess, she tried to kill him, and he died, I could have healed him with my hair, but Gothel wanted it for herself, but I managed to heal him anyway with my tears… and then we rode here to find you…"

She had gone on talking that way for a few moments now, and she had to stop to take a breath, which she inhaled and exhaled heavily. Wow, there was a lot more to tell them, but it was too overwhelming to try to say all of it in one sitting. Thankfully, her father's wrath against Eugene was avoided, and her mother seemed to understand, as she pressed Rapunzel's hand, pausing the continuation of her story.

"It's quite a story," the queen said, "one that must be very tiring to tell, especially experiencing everything that happened within it." Her green eyes shone with interest and love. "Perhaps you can tell us the rest of it after you get something to eat and some sleep." She realized that she did not even know what her daughter liked to eat. That thought led to the idea of a royal celebratory feast of their daughter's return, and that could go off into a dozen other tangents, but she contained herself, lest she forget all about the here and now.

"We can have Cook make whatever you like," the king added, earning himself a look of thanks from his wife in gratitude for their uncanny ability to finish each other's thoughts.

Rapunzel silently considered this for a moment, thinking immediately of the familiar favorite dish which had been promised to her for dinner a few times in the last few nights but never got to the point of eating. Would it be remiss to ask for it now? Was it wrong to even want it anymore? Would they have it?

"Can I have… hazelnut soup?" she asked hopefully, too hungry to think of turning down the offer for food for the sake of being polite. She had not even really thought about her hunger, and she would have thought herself able to abstain since she and Mother Gothel had eaten so sparingly at the tower (the reasons for which consisted of the trouble it took for Gothel to go out and gather food in addition to her desire to keep her figure and insistence that Rapunzel was getting chubby), but the journey had taken a lot out of her, and she felt like she was starving.

To her surprise, the queen smiled. "Of course you can. Cook knows the recipe well. It's your father's favorite."

"Really?" Rapunzel's excitement and surprise showed in her face. There were so many things she had to learn about her parents, and so many things she had in common with them that she had yet to discover! She had never wondered before how she and Gothel could be related without having anything alike, and if she could go back and think about all of their differences now that she knew the reason for them, she could have pointed out thousands. But now, she felt like she was really part of a family.

Eugene had never been part of a family, so he, unfortunately, was not able to share in this joy. He watched the interaction between the royals with a combination of pleasure and jealousy, glad that the girl he loved could experience such happiness but knowing that he could never fully experience it with her. With glances alone, the king had already managed to make that clear.

They went to the kitchen and Rapunzel had her fill of soup, her parents watching in rapture the simple experience of seeing their daughter eat, and the cook puffing up with pride at the sincere comment from the princess (the introduction to whom was made at length) that this was the best thing she had ever eaten. Eugene smiled to himself as he observed these things from the corner where he tore his way through a loaf of leftover bread.

When Rapunzel had finished and thanked the ecstatic cook, she was led back through the castle corridors towards a more secluded chamber. Her father opened the door to a darkened room, and a servant who had started following them produced a torch which lit up the room to reveal a room with a large bed, elaborately decorated by beautiful tapestries and with a small shelf of books on the wall. Eugene heard Rapunzel sigh as she looked at everything, and grinned as she flopped onto the bed without thinking.

"It's perfect," she murmured happily, sprawling across the giant bed.

"I'm glad you like it," the king spoke up warmly. "I had it arranged for you… just in case. Maybe it was false hope… but I'm glad I did."

Rapunzel, surprised and touched, sat up and ran to her father, hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Daddy," she murmured against his chest, as he smiled at her. Gingerly, he leaned down to kiss the top of her head. Eugene knew he should look away from the precious father-daughter moment, and Flynn Rider would have made a noise of disgust or some snarky comment, but he was Eugene Fitzherbert now, so he watched in silence as he tried to bite back a smile.

"Well," the king said, straightening a little, "I suppose we should leave you to your rest now."

Taking the cue, Eugene began to back up out of the room. Rapunzel's brow quirked in confusion. "He can't stay?"

"No," Eugene said quickly, before the king could speak up. "I have some things to get to anyway. Good night, Your Highness."

Though it pained him to leave her like that, looking disoriented and slightly hurt, it was for everyone's good. He turned on his heel and headed out, waiting a moment outside the door before the queen and king joined him, after saying goodnight to their daughter, in the hallway, as he had expected. His heart began to race a little under the king's gaze, but he managed to return his gaze steadily.

"Wait a minute," the queen said, her voice low but not unkind. "Further in."

Confused, Eugene followed them down the hall until they were farther from Rapunzel's room. The queen gave a little nod to her husband, as if giving him the approval to talk. Eugene was a little surprised that the queen appeared to wear the pants in this relationship, but it was probably just in this one scenario, and anyway, he was distracted quickly enough.

"Eugene," the queen began, "it appears that our daughter has taken to you."

"But…" Eugene put in, knowing what was coming, forcing himself to suppress a sigh lest he seem rude.

"But," the king added, "just because she trusts you doesn't mean we should. After all, she's trusted a few people she shouldn't." Neither of them had to say that he was referring to Gothel, for they all knew it.

"It's just not the best timing, with everything else that's happening," the queen put in, a bit more kindly. "That isn't to say that we don't wish for you to stay, since Rapunzel does appear to wish it, and obviously we are incapable of saying no to her. I fear she will be far too spoiled," she said, looking at her husband knowingly. "You probably know her better than we do, at this point, and you will be helpful to us all, I am sure, in the trying times that are to come."

"But…" Eugene said again, not quite placated by the queen's kind words.

"But," the king continued, with a bit of a reproachful glance at his wife, "while we know our daughter is no fool, we cannot vouch for the character of a thief" – Eugene winced at this – "based on the opinion of a lovestruck eighteen year old girl."

Eugene tensed. "At the risk of being disrespectful, Your Majesty, Rapunzel – the princess – her highness – is not a little girl anymore. Sir." Though he stumbled over his words and threw in nearly every title he knew, and expletives would have helped him better express himself, it was enough to get his point across.

Unfortunately.

"I know that," said the king coldly; "I missed watching my daughter grow up, and I will thank you not to remind me of it."

Pain was obvious enough underneath the icy tone, for it was a bitter thing to realize that one's baby girl no longer was, and so much had changed without the father's knowledge. Eugene acquiesced, for the king was clearly not grateful to him for anything, not even for bringing his daughter back, as the king went on: "Just because you brought Rapunzel back to us does not pardon you for your crimes."

"I'm not asking for that," Eugene said insistently, his voice rising without his realizing it. "I'm not asking for any kind of reward."

The king's expression was clear: _Good, because you're not getting one_.

The queen, though, put a hand on her husband's arm to silence him. "Then why _are _you here?"

Before Eugene could answer, a voice which had become familiar to him rang out from behind him. He grimaced – Rapunzel must have heard them and come out.

"He knows the forest really well, and he knew about Gothel, and he found out that I was the princess, and he wanted to prove it to me, and to you, by showing me the crown, but he couldn't take it because no one would believe him, and—"

This earnest ramble was cut off mercifully by Eugene, who said bluntly, "To be honest, I wanted the crown for myself. But when I met your daughter… Everything changed for me, and I would have turned myself in, I swear."

"Honest," the king repeated, thoughtfully stroking his beard. "You expect me to believe that you, a thief who has never held an honest job in his life, is capable of being truthful and honorable?"

Eugene was speechless, but Rapunzel saved his sorry behind, once again. It was becoming quite a habit for her, really, and his ego was taking quite a beating for being incapable of rescuing the damsel in distress, since he was probably turning into the damsel in this scenario.

"Daddy, he brought me here, didn't he?" she pointed out forcefully, green eyes intent. "The only thing that he would have to gain from coming here is a… a trip to the gallows. But he brought me here anyway, because h-he loves me."

Somewhat taken aback that his daughter was so passionate about a mere thief, not to mention so right, the king exhaled heavily.

"Is that true?"

Figuring answering truthfully might be dangerous, Eugene said instead, "Sir – your Majesty – the only reason I'm here is because of Rapunzel. She needed to be brought back to you. She needs her mother and father, Your Majesty. Trust me, I would know. I didn't have mine, and look how I turned out."

Probably not the wisest thing to say, since the king appeared to agree with it. The queen gazed at her husband, though instead of reproach, there was a question in her eyes. He said nothing for a painful second, but then a small smile appeared through his mustache.

"You turned out well enough, Eugene Fitzherbert."

"Th-thank you, your Majesty," he managed, unsure what exactly the admission meant, though the fact that everyone was smiling was probably a good sign.

"So he can stay?" Rapunzel asked, clinging to her father's arm and looking up at him with those wide green eyes. Having fallen prey to them himself, Eugene knew he was safe if she was trying to use the same tactics on her father, since they were obviously going to work.

"He can stay," the king said.

"Thank you, your Majesty," Eugene said again, more confidently this time, though there was still a great deal of subservience in his voice, and now in his posture as he bowed his head a little towards the king.

The king said nothing more to Eugene, as if the concession had been bad enough, but instead called for a servant. "Geoffrey! Take Mr. Fitzherbert to his room."

"Yes, your Majesty," the servant said, his voice and countenance steady in spite of the questions in his head.

Eugene gave a final glance towards the girl who had saved him, once again, before being carted off.

Alone again, the king sighed softly. "Well, it's a good thing – our jail cells are fuller than they've ever been and I don't think we can cram in another," he muttered.

"About that…" Rapunzel said. "I was wondering if there were a few more friends I could get out of, you know, being condemned to hang."

The king raised a brow and the queen just shook her head, a little smile on her lips. She had a feeling their daughter was going to be even more spoiled than she had imagined, but she could not possibly mind. This was the best thing to ever happen to them, and if that meant the kingdom would have a bit of havoc for a while until she got used to her powers – not that of being a possessor of magical hair, or even of being a princess, but of being a daughter of a pushover father – then so be it.

"There were other people involved in getting me away from Gothel," she explained. "They're sitting in jail right now for getting Eugene out of jail."

After mulling this over and connecting everything, the king gave a little nod. "All right. Have the prisoners released, then. We will explain everything to the kingdom in the morning."

Another servant was summoned (goodness, there were more of them than Rapunzel could count!) to go open up the cell block. Another hug, and the three royals separated to their respective bedchambers, full of happiness for different reasons, and all finding themselves quite unable to fall asleep in spite of the fact that they were quite worn out from the excitement of the day.

Meanwhile, in the darkness of the courtyard, the cells of the Corona jail, which had been unoccupied for many years, were emptied once more. A dozen thugs from the Snuggly Duckling whooped as they were freed, and cried out unheard thanks to the blonde friend who they knew instinctively had rescued them in return for aiding, by proxy, her rescue. And a certain two thugs who had not done anything at all to help said blonde princess, but meant her only harm, were also released from their cell, and as they slipped unnoticed into the darkness and away from the happy lot, they were planning not rejoicing, but revenge.

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AU: A much longer chapter this time! If you liked it, or if you didn't, review!


	5. The Door of the Bedroom

**Another Door Opens**  
**Chapter Four**  
**The Bedroom Door**

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AU: Took almost six months to update this. That's embarrassing...

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Rapunzel's bed felt too big. She had not had this experience since she had outgrown her small bed when she was six - and had been told that she was growing too fast because she was eating too much - and gotten a new one, the same one that she had slept in for the past twelve years. Sure, it was a little small, but that was mostly because her hair took up a lot of room, even when most of it was neatly piled on the floor beside the bed. She remembered that at six she had been thrown off by the change and so illogically frightened by the extra space that she wanted to sleep with Gothel. Gothel had, of course, refused, though she hadn't given any reason for it besides saying that Mother Knew Best and Mother needed her own bed, and that was that and Rapunzel had gotten used to her new bed.

Now _this_ was her new bed, and as she lay across it looking up at the ceiling and trying to think of all the reasons she shouldn't miss the tower (the task was made easier when she thought of all the mean things Gothel had done that she had brushed off then even though they bothered her, and could now consider more from a different perspective), she had to wonder how long it would take to get used to this bed. But there were so many things other than just the bed that had changed. She didn't think that even sleeping in her old, familiar bed would be a comfort in this new place with a new lifestyle. After all, her old bed hadn't even really been comfortable, and this one certainly was. (It was like sleeping on a pillow instead of a board.) Comfort, she was coming to realize, had less to do with physical pleasantness than it did with familiarity. And the sad thing was, she knew that this was her home, it was supposed to always have been her home. But as much as she was mad at Gothel for denying her the knowledge of her own identity, because she had been deceived for so long she still couldn't entirely shake the image of Gothel as her mother, and that was making the deception all the more painful.

Of course, during the initial moment of realization, her anger had made it seem easy and natural to act rashly, and to feel primally. It was like she was fighting for her life and self-defense instincts had kicked in - no, come to think of it, it wasn't /like/ she had been fighting for her life; she really had been. She had been fighting for her freedom, the freedom to do something with herself other than just spend the rest of her days locked up and living as a slave. And she had had to protect Eugene, too - he was the first thing she'd had to take care of, and knowing that had given her a sense of importance.

But she liked being taken care of. Now that she had that liberty, she didn't know what to do with it. She just wanted someone to hold her and brush her hair, and this time, have the ritual be for /her/ rather than for Gothel. Gothel had cared for her, and Rapunzel wanted to believe that some of the things she had done were because she actually liked Rapunzel and not just because she needed to use her to stay young. She wanted to feel about the queen, her real mother, the way she had felt about Gothel before she knew the truth. She hoped that she would. In her heart, she knew that she could. The queen was pretty, not in a harsh, untouchable way like Gothel, but in a warm, soft, kind way. She would never say something mean and tack on a 'just kidding' like that would take away the sting. Her father though...the king... That ws something new. She was unfamiliar with daddies. At least now she knew why Gothel had told her she didn't have one.

In the dark, when she was alone, it was easy to feel scared and discouraged. She felt like if she just had someone to talk to, she could figure it out.

And that's where Eugene came in, saving the day, her hero, again. (Yeah, technically, she had saved him, but that was only because she needed him.) She had left her door open, and when he walked up to stand in her doorway, enough light from the lamps in the corridor spilled in to her room to illuminate his face, the glow behind him making him look almost angelic. (He probably would not have appreciated her telling him so, so she didn't.)

She had never encountered thieves before so she hadn't thought to be frightened by the sound of approaching footsteps, in spite of all the stories that Gothel had told her. She had never suspected that someone would climb the tower and she presumed that the guards would have stopped any real bad guys - in that, at least, she could defeat at least one of her fears with logic.

Speaking of guards, she was slightly curious as to how he'd gotten past them, because she doubted they would just let him through after all that he'd done, sadly. She didn't ask, though, because she was sure he would just make some quip about being a stealthy thief instead of a real explanation, and perhaps she didn't want to know. Anyway, she didn't really care, because she was so happy to see him.

"Hey." He rubed the back of his neck as if slightly uncomfortable. "I couldn't sleep." Like he needed an explanation for seeing her. He seemed suddenly shy, for some reason; she did not think that she had ever seen him shy, except for maybe briefly at the campfire. It was definitely a Eugene thing, not a Flynn thing.

"Neither could I," she replied, smiling a little.

She patted the bed next to her, a silent invitation, and he took a few tentative steps closer, before pausing and turning briefly, hand extended towards the door knob. "Should I close this?"

Rapunzel shook her head quickly. "That's okay. I like it open," she said. He shrugged and walked closer, sitting on the edge of the bed gingerly.

The truth was, she hadn't not closed the door just because she wanted it to be open to Eugene. She was afraid to close it. She was afraid that if she closed it, she would never get it open again. She was unfamiliar with doors, because she'd never gotten to open one before, and she knew that if she could not, she would feel trapped.

Though he probably wouldn't admit it, Eugene was also here because of fear. He had been afraid to close his eyes. He couldn't fall asleep, because he wasn't sure if he would ever be able to wake up. The last time he had closed his eyes, other than just to blink, he hadn't thought they would ever open again.

He wasn't supposed to be afraid. He was supposed to be the one protecting her. But _she_ had saved _him_. And quite frankly, he was terrified.

"Why couldn't you sleep?" Rapunzel asked finally. As content as she was to enjoy the silence and just being in his presence, she did want to know. It had been a busy day and all, but she was curious.

…okay, it was like she could read his mind. That was kinda creepy. And endearing at the same time.

"I, uh, I just couldn't close my eyes," he confessed casually.

She tilted her head a little to look at him, smiling. "Are you afraid it's all a dream that you'll wake up from if you fall asleep?" she asked, bringing her knees to her chest and hugging them. It seemed to him that that was what Rapunzel thought: all of this was some kind of dream that she was going to wake up from. In fact, having Eugene with her had been just the comfort that she needed, and all of her apprehensions had left her mind, only to think that, since he was with her, how wonderful all of this was. Between the food, and her parents, and all of the fancy things, and…

"No," he said slowly. "I wasn't sure if I closed them that they'd open again."

Her mouth opened in a silent 'o' of recognition before she closed it again, chewing nervously on her bottom lip. "Eugene…" She scooted a little closer to him where he was perched on the edge of her bed. He turned his head away, not wanting her to see his expression, and pressed his lips into a thin line, but when she placed a hand lightly on his shoulder, he slowly looked back toward her.

Her voice was soft, barely more than a whisper, as she leaned in a little closer, her slim fingers splayed so that he could feel their warmth through the thin linen nightshirt he'd been given to sleep in. "Can we talk?" she asked.

His expression softened after a moment as she added, hastily, "I mean, we haven't had time…" It was like she was nervously dancing around something, like she was afraid she was going to upset him. Of course he couldn't let her think of him that way.

"We had the whole ride here, but _somebody _conked out on me," he replied, teasing her lightly, a smile threatening at the corners of his mouth.

She smiled sheepishly and nuzzled against the soft fabric of his shirt. "Yeah, well, watching someone die is…kind of exhausting."

The smile faded and he blinked. "Just kind of."

It seemed like maybe he didn't really want to talk, but she didn't pull away. She just pressed her lips lightly to his shoulder, causing him to tense, before looking up at him. "Dying is probably exhausting too…do you want to go back to bed?"

"I probably should," he said slowly, "but I don't think I can. Or will." He purposefully didn't respond to her first comment. He shifted slightly so that he was facing her more fully, and she moved to accommodate him. "So… what do you want to talk about? We already went over the whole… you're-the-lost-princess-and-you-were-rescued-by-a-bunch-of-thugs-and-a-weirdly-animated-horse thing."

She nodded and smiled when he said he would stay. She settled down with a slight smile, moving closer to him and wrapping her arms around his waist. "There's so much that I don't know about being a princess…"

"Well, I don't know any better than you do," he pointed out with a wry chuckle.

She rolled her eyes at him and pressed against his chest. "Oh, that reminds me! The thugs! I got Daddy to free them – every single person in the jail! Can you believe it?"

She was going to guess that the reason for the ensuing expression of utter shock on Eugene's face wasn't because of the fact that she had just called her father Daddy after knowing him for less than a day, even though the easiness of it had come as a surprise to her. She frowned slightly. "…what?"

"No. I really can't believe it," he said slowly, extracting himself from her embrace and scrambling backwards off the bed. He stumbled out of the room and down the hall.

Confused, she stood and crawled off the bed, looking down the hall after him. "Eugene? Eugene!" Seeing as how he didn't stop and didn't turn back to look at her, she walked back into her room. "Hmmm," she said, her eyebrows furrowing before she flopped back onto the bed. "He must be really tired after all."

* * *

The other occupants of the castle were considerably more concerned about the fact that a former thief was tearing down the halls in the middle of the night than Rapunzel. After he was sighted running out the front doors, the king was notified. It is never a pleasant thing to be woken in the middle of the night, particularly when you are a king and your days are spent in stress, and particularly when the reason for being awoken is that the potential paramour, thief, and man of otherwise questionable character, associating with your long-lost daughter, is trying to escape and has a record of doing so successfully.

What the king did not know while he shrugged into a dressing gown was that he did not have to send all of his guards after Flynn Rider: the man appeared to be turning himself in.

After Rapunzel's revelation, Eugene had sprinted straight down to the jail, with which he was quite familiar by now, even though he had only ever spent one night in it, thanks to his various skills at evading capture. Unfortunately, the time he had escaped had been with the help of others, and he did not know how to break out, or to break in.

The prison doors which had been thrown open a few hours ago were now locked. Eugene did not know what the point was of having the doors locked to keep people in now that no one was in there – the only thing it was doing was keeping him _out_, a situation that the castle guards had unsuccessfully been trying to remedy for years now. But, as they had never been able, Eugene had over time come to the conclusion that he was much smarter than the guards, and this belief was reinforced now.

"Let me in here right now!" Eugene demanded in a snarl, gripping the bars of the door and rattling it on its hinges.

The guards, all of whom knew about Eugene and had been itching to throw him in a dungeon for longer than one night, all smiled haughtily in their assumed triumph as one of them sauntered over to unlock the door. "With pleasure."

The gate was unlocked to permit him entrance, but before they could manacle him, Eugene lowered his shoulder and barreled through the line of them, who were still standing stupidly there, just watching him go by.

"What is the meaning of this?" the king bellowed, having just arrived after marching through the castle at a faster pace than usual given the circumstances.

Eugene had other things to worry about than the king's befuddlement. "Oh, no no no no! This is not good," he panted, skidding back from the other end of the hall. He would have been considerably less composed, and considerably more foul-mouthed, had Rapunzel not also appeared on the scene, looking adorable with the way she groggily rubbed her eyes, and asking so heart-wrenchingly, "Eugene? What's going on? Why'd you leave?"

He was going to be in deep trouble for that later, he was sure; the king would kill him more than once, since he could have Rapunzel bring him back to life again for that very purpose.

"You know the guys who wanted to kill you away from the woman who kidnapped you? …we can reflect on the irony of that later – right now, we have to catch them! They were in here, and now they're not!" he answered breathlessly, since the guards were too stupefied to do anything other than stare open-mouthed at the king in fear. They really were idiots, the lot of them.

He was starting to not feel like such a big fan of the king either. He should have known better than to let everyone in the jail go. It was true that he had just been trying to make his daughter happy, and deep down, Eugene knew that, logically, but he didn't feel like being reasonable right now – he was too scared and too angry. "You let them all go without telling me?"

The king was clearly not used to being addressed in an angry tone, or being told, even indirectly, that he was wrong. "You would do well to remember that you have no power here, Mr. Rider."

"It's Fitzherbert," he muttered grudgingly. Apparently he had lost first-name privileges. Or correct-name privileges.

"Furthermore," the king continued, his eyes narrowing slightly at being interrupted and corrected, "I can't tell the difference between criminals. Whether they rescued my daughter or saved her, they all look the same to me."

Eugene lifted his chin a notch in anger at the implications of this pointed remark, clenching his teeth together to keep from saying something that he shouldn't, a muscle in his jaw twitching. He stayed silent, but his dark eyes burned.

He was not surprised when the king asked, "And we let you escape the gallows. What makes you different from them?"

"I love your daughter, and they don't," Eugene retorted flatly, letting that sink in for a moment before giving his head a fierce shake and pacing with short, savage strides in a small circle. "They could be anywhere right now!"

The king seemed somewhat chastised by this, and did not respond to either of Eugene's statements; his silence was answer enough, and evidence that Eugene had made his point. He mused instead, "They were probably after the reward money we were offering for the return of the princess."

Eugene's mouth watered. He had sort of forgotten about that in all of the excitement. Funny how his priorities had shifted. Anyway, seeing Rapunzel happy was reward enough. But she didn't look so happy right now – not that he could blame her. His attention had been brought back to her just as she spoke for the first time, looking nervous – probably more so because of the tension between Eugene and the king than because of the situation with the Stabbington brothers.

"Or my hair," she pointed out, speaking for the first time. She was clenching her hands nervously, as if she was twirling her long golden hair between her fingers, but there was no hair there anymore. Sad how paranoid she'd been about him wanting her hair because of the scary stories that Gothel had told her, while Gothel had been the one taking advantage of her all along. Now _that _was ironic. "If they are – were – in jail, they probably don't know that it's cut yet."

"They might still think it has its powers," Eugene agreed, panic stabbing through his gut. He ran a hand worriedly through his hair before it flopped over his forehead again. "Don't let it get out that you still have them, okay?"

The Stabbingtons hadn't been after money in the first place. They had been after her hair. That much had become clear to him when they had thought he was holding out on them again in the conversation by the lake before they'd knocked him out and turned him in that night. If they thought that she still had her hair, they would come after her.

But he didn't say that out loud. He couldn't. Everyone was scared enough as it was, and he was pretty sure the possibility was implied; everyone was thinking about it without it needing to be announced.

"It'll be alright, sweetheart," the king murmured, looking a little awkward as he pulled Rapunzel close to console her and placing a kiss on the top of her head. Eugene bristled slightly. He was supposed to be the one with his arms around Rapunzel, the one comforting her. Her eyes darted to him before she closed her eyes and nestled into her father's arms. "Don't worry. Our guards are well trained. Nothing bad will happen to you, ever again."

He continued to wax on about the guard for a few moments, how well-trained they were, and how they were placed strategically in various locations inside of the castle, before Eugene got tired of it.

"To be fair, Your Majesty, with all due respect, I got in before." He locked eyes with the king. "And that isn't just because I am – was – the best thief in the kingdom. …the Stabbingtons were helping me."

"You mean to tell me that you showed them how to get in?" the king echoed incredulously.

Rapunzel winced and pulled away at the rise in his voice. "Daddy—"

Both of the men looked to her.

"He's changed," she said finally, in the spotlight. "And he doesn't want them to come back."

Eugene shook his head at this enthusiastically. "Except to knock them out," he added.

The king did not look impressed or pleased by this addendum. "Go back to bed, Rapunzel," he instructed. "There will be guards posted by your door. You will be safe."

"But Eugene—"

"Eugene will go to his own room," the king finished for her sternly, giving a look to Eugene that silenced him even though his mouth had been open to answer. Eugene scowled slightly. It wasn't like he had been going to sleep in Rapunzel's room, even if he wanted to. He really had changed, after all.

Rapunzel looked between them suspiciously for a moment before she obediently returned to her room. Eugene sighed and turned to go as soon as she was out of sight, but the king put a hand out and the guards stopped him from taking another step by putting a sword in his path.

"Your room is here," the king stated. Eugene's mouth fell open in shock but he didn't move, just closed his mouth and set his jaw firmly as he stepped into the cell that had been opened for him. No need to fight it, not physically. There were no thugs here to save him this time; they were free, but they were probably all back at the Snuggly Duckling drunk by now.

"Don't do this. You're going to regret it," he said. He didn't want to sound like he was pleading for his freedom, but the king just didn't get it. He was the only one who knew how the Stabbingtons worked, the only one who could protect Rapunzel.

"Regret protecting my daughter?" the king asked, turning to look at Eugene with his blue eyes cold. "No. I won't. It is my fault that she got away from me once, and it will not happen again."

The door was slammed closed and Eugene winced as the cold bars rang with the impact. He sank down onto the floor. He had to get out of here, before it was too late.

* * *

Rapunzel hadn't been expecting it, but she managed to fall back to sleep, albeit a fitful one. She dreamed that she heard footsteps, coming down the hall. She had left the door open in case Eugene decided to come back.

She did not realize that Eugene was in a jail cell. She did not realize that the footsteps she was hearing were in fact from two people, and just sounded like one person's footsteps because they were in sync, made by twins.

"Eugene?" she asked sleepily, eyes fluttering open.

"Who's Eugene?"

Before she could make sense of the fact that the gruff voice was not Eugene's, before she could even think to scream or be afraid or resist, she was tumbled into a giant sack and tossed over a large shoulder.


	6. The Door of Discovery

**Another Door Opens**

**Chapter Five**

**The Door to Discovery**

* * *

**AU: Quick warning: story rating is getting bumped for this chapter. You readers worrying about Eugene being standoffish to Rapunzel don't have to worry too much. ;)**

* * *

Once she was in the sack, with no gag in her mouth, Rapunzel was free to scream as much as she liked, but her cries for help would fall upon deaf ears. The guards who had been posted outside her room had been knocked out by the Stabbington brothers, who had wanted to get their revenge on Rapunzel, and on the man they knew as Flynn Rider. It was not that the guards were particularly incompetent, no matter what Eugene thought; they were just not used to dealing with criminals, frankly, or with cruel people in general, and the Stabbingtons were both.

She struggled inside the scratchy burlap, but to no avail. The man who was holding her was strong, stronger than she could possibly be in spite of lifting Gothel into the tower every day, because he was simply larger than her. She remembered how intimidated she had been when she had seen them advancing upon her in the forest when she had been expecting Eugene. How she wished she had thought to grab the trusty frying pan on her bedside table to defend herself!

As the top of the sack opened slightly to reveal the lack of golden locks they had been expecting, the brothers stared at it in disbelief for a moment before looking at each other with scowls. As one of them was mute, the other spoke for both of them with his angry bellow.

"Her hair's gone! _RIDER!_"

As if speaking of the devil, Eugene appeared in the door at that very moment, his face set resolutely with a grim smile. "It's Fitzherbert, actually."

And then he whacked both of them over the head with the frying pan.

Rapunzel had fallen from their grip with a squeak as they fell to the ground, unconscious, and tumbled out of the sack to look up at her savior. "Eugene," she breathed gratefully, getting to her feet and leaping at him to wrap her arms around him tightly, nestling against his chest with a sigh.

He tensed for a moment before relaxing into her embrace with a little smile. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that." He twirled the frying pan by its handle before setting it down so that he could free up his hands and put his arms around her waist.

She looked up at him, green eyes wide in wonder and admiration. "You saved me," she whispered.

He shrugged, as if it wasn't really a big deal, even though he was inwardly terrified at what had almost happened.

"Actually, Pascal saved you," he admitted with a little smile. "He must have seen…"

He trailed off abruptly. What was he supposed to say? That Pascal had seen her dad putting him in jail? That wouldn't go over well.

So he skipped over the whole explanation of how Pascal had brought him the key to the jail cell, and decided simply on, "He made sure I could help you."

To be technical, he hadn't even known that the Stabbingtons would be in her room at that moment, let alone this night. But he did know that men who were that big usually had small brains and short attention spans, and weren't patient enough to wait much longer than they were freed to attack. It had probably taken the frog a while to get to him with the key, and by the time he got up to her room, the Stabbingtons were already there. The only way the timing could have worked was sheer dumb luck. Or Fate, as Rapunzel would have it.

"Oh, Pascal," she sighed, squeezing Eugene happily around his middle at the thought of it, not realizing that it was restricting his breathing. "I didn't even notice he was gone!"

Eugene took a breath as she slight eased up on her chokehold and followed her gaze to the chameleon, who he still would always call a frog just like he still called Rapunzel Blondie, who appeared to be preening.

"Yeah… he's a sneaky little rascal," he muttered, his gratitude to Pascal momentarily ousted by the fact that Pascal was definitely glaring at him. It appeared Pascal liked him enough to free him from a jail cell, but not if his freedom was going to be spent cozying up to Rapunzel.

Pascal was probably right. It wasn't a good idea to be this close to Rapunzel in the dark… Especially since she was looking up at him like that, and reaching up to brush her fingers across his jaw lightly…

Without really realizing it, he leaned into her touch, and his eyes fluttered closed as he tilted his head towards hers when she stood on tiptoe to kiss him.

But when she kissed him with more passion and a hint of desperation he wasn't prepared for, a kiss more than just the chaste and firm quick press of her lips to his, he found himself getting lost in it before he could stop himself and say no. This was exactly what he had been afraid of. He felt her quivering in his arms, and as he deepened the kiss, heard her little mewling noises against his lips, he knew he was getting them both in deeper than they should. She was the princess, not just some tart on the street. And she was Rapunzel. The girl he loved.

By the way, that thought terrified him.

He pulled back to break the kiss, breathing hard, and lowered his gaze. "I can't believe I'm saying this… but I think we should slow it down a little."

"Slow…down?" Rapunzel echoed, and the breathless, confused way she said it made him freak out a little, but he quashed it quickly. She appeared to be even more affected than he was.

"Yeah…" he said, reluctantly. "I mean, it's been a long day, and you should probably get some sleep. Take it easy and all."

He certainly didn't feel like sleeping after the way they had just kissed, and she probably didn't either. But she relented.

"Okayyy," she murmured, though she was still holding him tight. "But will you stay here and protect me?"

He smiled and shook his head in wonder at her. Maybe he should be a little insulted that she didn't seem so affected by the kiss after all if she could move on from it so fast. Maybe he should kiss her again—

No. No, no, no.

"Of course," he said, keeping the tone of his voice steady with some effort. He attempted to calm them both by stroking the choppy ends of her soothingly, but found his fingers fit so nicely tangled in the texturized waves that he was just distracting himself. "Hey, Blondie… Maybe you shouldn't tell your dad—"

"About the kiss?" she interrupted, and the brightness in her eyes that made him know she _liked _the thought of having the kiss stay a secret between them made him swallow hard.

"Uhh…yeah, don't tell him about that, either," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with an awkward cough, wondering if she could see the heat spreading over his face and neck. "But I was referring to those guys." He thumbed towards the unconscious brothers, wondering what they were going to do with them now. He hadn't really thought about it before whacking them over the head. Seeing the girl you loved about to get kidnapped didn't tend to put a guy in the most logical of mindsets.

Rapunzel followed his gaze to the giant men sprawled out face down on her plush pink rug, and her brows furrowed into a frown before she kicked their unconscious forms with a little "hmph!"

At the sight of this, Eugene would have smiled if he had been less bothered. "We don't want to worry him, do we?" he prodded, causing Rapunzel to nod slowly in agreement. "It would really blow to get out of that tower just to have your old man lock you up in here for your own safety."

She chewed on her lip thoughtfully in a way she probably didn't realize was keeping him from being able to take his eyes off of it, and then she smiled weakly. "You can protect me."

"Better than the guards did, anyway," Eugene muttered, trying to keep his heart from melting at the amount of faith she put in him even though he hadn't done a whole lot to deserve it. …besides dying for her. That probably would do the trick.

"You can be my bodyguard!" Rapunzel was saying, wringing her hands excitedly as she worked it out in her head. "I'll ask Daddy right now."

"Whoa, whoa, maybe you should wait till morning," Eugene hastily interceded, putting his hands out. He was mostly just trying to figure out how to stop her from asking about that, period, seriously doubting it would help his case. He didn't think that was going to go over well. The king wouldn't be a fan of him being in close quarters with the princess, and with her enthusiasm and innocence – which he was beginning to realize made her do some unwittingly not-so-innocent things – he wasn't so sure it was a good idea either, if he was going to be able to keep his head on. The king already didn't seem to be a big fan of him.

Not that he could really blame the guy. But still. He had saved his daughter's life at least three times now; you would think that would negate stealing her crown.

"Look, Blondie, there are probably going to be a lot of people who don't like the idea of me hanging around," he said gently, trying to figure out how to best put it without upsetting her.

Her large green eyes widened and wrenched his heart strings. "But why?"

"Well, I was a wanted thief, for one thing," he said simply. "For another, you're a princess, and there are probably gonna be other guys, guys who aren't thieves, who want to…spend time with you."

"That would be alright," Rapunzel mused, her nose scrunching up thoughtfully. "As long as I still get to spend time with _you_."

"Yeah…" Clearly, this was a conversation not meant for the middle of the night, when they were both exhausted, and they had two guys lying around who might not be unconscious for much longer. "Whaddya say we talk more about this later?"

"You've been acting weird," Rapunzel accused lightly. "What's wrong, Eugene?"

"I don't want to make you sad," he said, flatly. "Or worried. You're going to have a hard time sleeping as it is."

"Just talk to me!" she entreated, taking hold of his hand so he couldn't go – he didn't have the heart to shake her off. "Please?"

He sighed. "Fine. It doesn't have to be a big deal. It's just… Gee, Blondie, I dunno, I just don't really…fit in here."

She looked at him sympathetically before hugging him close again. "Oh, Eugene, it's alright. I don't either – and I'm the princess!"

"Yeah, well… they'll fix that up soon," he promised, rubbing her back absently. "I'm sure you have all kinds of etiquette lessons to go to." Maybe not being with her all the time wouldn't be such a bad thing if he was going to have to suffer through those with her.

"Like princess classes?"

"Exactly."

She made a little hum of acknowledgement as she nestled against him.

"This is fun and all, but I should probably go…before your dad finds me in here…"

"See? This is what I mean! You treat me like a hot potato," she complained, pouting impressively.

"It's for your own good, Blondie – trust me."

"But I _like_ this."

He had to suppress a groan. "Believe me, I like it too." Could she get any more naïve? Even if she didn't know _why _he wasn't supposed to be here, she should at least know that he wasn't supposed to be here.

"Then what's the problem?"

_The problem is that you can't get too attached to me because I'm scared of commitment and your dad would probably murder me personally anyway and because you're going to get married to some rich, charming, handsome, honorable fuddy-duddy prince._

"Let's just not get ourselves in too deep here."

"But it feels good!" she protested.

"Yeah, that's the problem," he muttered under his breath.

"Why is that a problem?" she persisted, giving him the desire to smack his forehead.

"Because you're not supposed to… kiss someone until you're married to them."

She considered this for a moment; marriage was something of a foreign concept to her. The only time she'd seen it in action was by witnessing her parents interact, and she had not seen that enough to have a full comprehension of it, other than it seemed like her parents worked well together, and they loved each other.

"Then let's get married," she chirped, as easily as she might suggest going for a stroll in the gardens or putting on a green shirt to match her eyes.

Eugene blanched. "Uhh…"

"What else do you do when you're married? What does it take to get married? Do you just have to love each other? Because we already do—"

"Let me cut you off there for a second," he interrupted, fighting the instinct to bolt from the room. "Ya know, Blondie, you don't have to marry – literally – the first guy you see. There are plenty of options out there – princes, diplomats, lords – who are better than me."

She frowned in confusion as she looked into his eyes. "Eugene… there isn't anything better than you."

Warmth spread through him, and he started to smile, though he was arguing against himself here. Half-seriously, he replied, "Ya sure? 'Cause there are still a lot of people you haven't met—"

She shut him up with a kiss.

He didn't resist this time, just kissed her back tenderly as he held her close.

"I love you," she murmured softly as their lips parted.

He tried not to sigh. It was going to be harder than he thought to let her go when a prince asked for her hand. He told himself it would happen eventually… but he was going to enjoy this while it lasted. There was no harm in that, right? Maybe at least he could teach her something about the world. "I know."

They looked at each other as one of the guards who had been posted outside of her room and knocked out by the Stabbingtons got to his feet with a groan as he rubbed his head. "Hey! What are you doing in there?" he demanded, stomping over to Eugene.

"Easy, big guy. He's the one you should be interrogating," Eugene said, taking a step back and putting his hands up, gesturing to the eye-patched Stabbington. "And it's Eugene Fitzherbert! What is with you people?"

"They came into my room to kidnap me and Eugene saved me," Rapunzel put in, that puppy dog face that could give the smolder a run for its money working its magic.

There was a moment where the guard looked between Eugene and Rapunzel for a moment before huffing, grudgingly giving in. "I'll deal with you later, Rider," the captain grunted, as he and the other woken guard dragged the still-unconscious Stabbingtons away (that frying pan could really do a number on a guy – Eugene knew from experience).

"I think that's my cue," Eugene said, as the two guards left; he was sure more would be on the way after hearing the commotion, and he didn't want to be seen in Rapunzel's room and prove what some people were already thinking.

"Okay," she finally relented, kissing him on the cheek. "Thanks again for saving me."

He smiled crookedly. "You did the same for me."

"And I'd do it again," she promised, squeezing his hands. "Good night, Eugene."

"Good night, Blondie."

She closed the door with a little wave of her fingers at him as he stepped back through the doorway, and he turned around—

– to walk right into the king.

"Mr. Fitzherbert," he said flatly. "Why am I not surprised that you are to be found where there's trouble?"

Eugene smiled nervously. "Wrong place at the wrong time, I guess…?"

The king frowned. "This isn't the time to joke, Mr. Fitzherbert."

Eugene coughed uncomfortably. "Of course, Your Majesty."

"I'm not even going to ask what you were doing in my daughter's bedroom—"

_Gulp_.

"—because you and I both know that if you convinced the princess to let you do anything untoward, the captain would have my permission to do unspeakable things to you to ensure that you would never have the capability of doing something of that nature again."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Eugene tugged at his collar; the room had suddenly gotten hot and his vest constrictive. "But I promise, I was only saving her from the Stabbingtons."

"Hmm."

Sufficiently encouraged, Eugene went on, "I know it probably doesn't look good that I escaped from jail, but to be fair, it's not like I haven't done better... and anyway, the point is, the Stabbingtons knocked the guards out, and they were trying to kidnap Rapunzel."

The king considered this. If Eugene was still working with the Stabbingtons, then he had either just stabbed them in the back, or he was in a really twisted scheme. Or he wasn't working with them at all, and love had really changed him. That was the most logical possibility, even though it was one that he wasn't sure he was ready to accept.

"Perhaps I have… misjudged you, Mr. Fitzherbert," he said slowly, the confession coming painfully, as it was a difficult and unusual thing for a king to admit that he was wrong.

Eugene wisely did not display his feeling of triumph. "That takes a big person to admit it, your Majesty. …thank you."

"And you have my permission to say 'I told you so' about the guards."

"Now, that wouldn't be the gentlemanly thing to do."

The two men smiled at each other tentatively – the king because he thought there might be hope for Mr. Fitzherbert after all, and Mr. Fitzherbert because he knew it.

"I have not been acting like a gentleman myself, Mr. Fitzherbert. Forgive me."

"Already done, Your Majesty."

"It's just that… I just got my daughter back, and I would do anything to protect her."

Nodding, Eugene murmured, "I understand."

"Perhaps you will, someday, when you have a daughter of your own."

Eugene choked. "Uhhh…"

The king cracked a smile. "I agree – it's better to wait." Better not to have a child at all, if Eugene was planning on that child being with Rapunzel, in his opinion. "Thank you for protecting Rapunzel. I was wrong to think I should have been protecting her from you."

"Really – no harm done," Eugene insisted, feeling a little awkward about the king apologizing to him, and rather guilty that the king actually should be keeping Rapunzel away from him, given what they'd just been doing, and what he'd wanted to do but knew he shouldn't, and the type of person he'd been not that long ago.

"Well… I'll let you get to sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow," the king said after a moment.

"Etiquette classes?" Eugene guessed.

The king chuckled. "Of course not! Rapunzel deserves a little more adjustment time than that. What kind of fogey do you think I am?" (Eugene wisely did not answer that.) "We're going to have a celebration for the whole kingdom to celebrate the princess' return!"

A smile spread across Eugene's face. A celebration? That meant fun! And fun meant alcohol!

"That sounds amazing, Your Majesty," he grinned. "I can't wait."

"Would you expect any less?" the king asked, though he was smiling. "Now get some rest, Mr. Fitzherbert."

"Yes, sir. Good night, sir."

They parted ways, and it wasn't until Eugene was back in his guest room that he realized what else a celebration meant: eligible young bachelors. Bachelors who would want to marry a princess.

* * *

**AU: Thanks to Liz McCallus and Orangefox1 for your suggestions! The king is indeed slowly warming up to Eugene. But what would you think if a thief and womanizer seemed like he was shacking up with your daughter, hmm?**

**Thanks for reading, guys! I love getting your comments and constructive criticism, so let me know what you think!  
**


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